One blessing after another

I was able to go to the zoo on Thursday afternoon with the girl from Texas I met. We had to take the metro there. Neither of us have ever been on an underground subway before. (texan's dont even have basements!) We took a lot of pictures and asked a lot of questions. Everyone around us probably thought we were crazy. I decided i would much rather take the above ground light rail like we have in Minneapolis. I have really grown to love Minneapolis after coming here. This city seems to dirty and the people are not as friendly. I was talking with Scott from GoAbroad.com (the company that sponsored me to come here) and he said he talked with some girls from Turkey yesterday morning and they could not believe how nice the people are in DC and they were SO helpful. It is funny how different our experiences were in the same city, same time, just because of where we came from. (remind me not to go to Turkey).

Troy (the owner of GoAbroad.com) told me to cancel my stay at the hostel and to move into one of their hotel rooms. They aren't leaving until monday. It was such a blessing. So I was able to cancel my hostel (even though that would have been an interesting experience) and I am now staying in the Renaissance. Supposedly it is more ritzy than the Hampton but they don't include breakfast here. They ordered room service for us for each meal anyway. :) They are taking really good care of me.

Last night i went and sat on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and watched people with the GoAbroad.com team. It was so amazing. It is beautiful at night... not scary at all when you are with a group of people.

This morning I woke up and walked close to 3 miles to Gallaudet University (the only Deaf college in the World). I wasn't able to get a tour but I was allowed to walk around by myself as long as i didn't go in any of the buildings. It was amazing to know that everyone I met would know sign. It was a beautiful place. I can't even imagine how amazing that place must be for a Deaf person. They know they can go anywhere on campus and use their own language! I met one girl who is very hard of hearing and works security. She can't attend the college because she doesn't have a high enough GPA. I told her all about North Central and the programs they have for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was Super excited. I told her why I came to DC and how I am working with the Deaf in the Philippines. I gave her my business card and she said she wants more information on NCU as well as on the trip to the Philippines that I am trying to put together. She wants to work with Deaf from all different cultures. It was NO coincidence that I met her!

I wanted to take a taxi back but none would take me cause it wasn't their territory on the way back. As soon as I entered my hotel it started to downpour outside. Right now it is thundering Super loud. I love it. I love it more cuase i am not out in the rain! It is as dark as night outside and beautiful from the view of my hotel room.

Yesterday night I was giving my taxi driver directions to my hotel and I realized that my "trip" turned into.. Toni you have been here too long if you can tell the Taxi driver where to go when he doesn't know. So I have two options... Become a taxi driver myself, or come home now. I think I am ready to come home now. I fly out tomorrow morning. But I am having supper tonight with an amazing girl I was put in contact with. I have never met her. I will write about it tomorrow or later tonight.

Ready to go home..

Toni

Its already Thursday

I can hardly believe it is already Thursday. I did decide today though that I was not going to change my flight. I found a hostel where I can stay for 25$ a night. However, I am not sure what it entails. I don't mind an adventure though. And if I were to change my flight it would cost about the same anyway. The hostel I will be staying at is about 3 blocks away from my hotel currently. So it will not be tough to get myself and my one bag over there. I am pretty excited. That gives me an extra two days to go to museums and see all the sites.

Ok... Well I have to be somewhere at 3(two your time... or noon if you are kevin). So i better get going.

Thanks for reading my blog. You can leave a comment to let me know you are if you want. It is not crucial though.



excited to stay my expected length...



Toni

this is my second post today.

So... what did tuesday hold... I woke up early and went to the conference center. I didn't know what was in store. There were a couple other students that were headed into a certain room so I followed them. It ended up being a mentor/mentee meeting. I was placed with a mentor as soon as I walked in the door and ironically enough she knew sign language and gave me some contact info. She is from Long Beach California. This conference is in California next year and she told me to keep her contact info in case I want to come next year she will let me stay with her or she will help hook me up with free rent somewhere for the week. So that was pretty neat. The past president of Mexico , Vincent something i can't remember his last name, spoke at a Plenary yesterday. It was not very interesting but I sat next to a really awesome girl. She is 24 and from Texas. We pretty much didn't leave eachothers side the rest of the night... no really. We were out really late and our hotels are in opposite directions so she ended up coming and sleeping at my place. we had to go in seperate directions the rest of the day today but we are planning on meeting up again tomorrow. She has helped put a lot of fun into this kind of stressful trip. This morning I went to several sessions and also helped out at the Hospitality booth. I couldn't really give anyone directions or answers but they had really cool maps that I could help find it with the person who was asking the questions. And I ended up learning a lot myself at the same time. OH i am not sure if mentioned this earlier, If I volunteer 20 hours I get 50% off my conference fee. That is 125$. So That is what I have been doing. I still go to the sessions I want but I just help out a little and technically get paid to go.

This morning I went to look at the exhibit hall for the first time. I found a lot of cool information and met people from all over the world. The last count was 9,500 people attending, 3,000 from outside the US, and 126 countries being represented. It was an amazing splash of every culture you can think of in one room. you walk two steps and you are in a different country. Each booth was offering somthing completly different. It made me really want to travel ALL over the world... expect poland and egypt weren't all that exciting to me. I mean Poland did have nice ladies and some cool pillows they were giving away. But it just didn't seem all that exciting to me.

The coolest thing was I found a travel agency. I started talking to him and he ended up being from Burnsville. He has booked flights for North Central(my college) when they go on trips and he also has gone on YWAM trips himself! He is the VP of the company and he asked me to meet him and the owners of the company when I get back to MN. He said maybe we can sit down and talk some good partnership where I can help my school lock in great rates for trips in the future as well as assisting me personally in my travels in the future whether I am alone or in a group. So that was really awesome. Really.. the most exciting thing that has happend so far.

I ran into a man yesterday also from Japan and started promoting his school. I found out he is best friends with Jason, one of the guys who sponsored my flight to come here. Small world. And I want to travel all around it!

I am sure I am missing a lot. but i am tired and have another big day tomorrow.

wanting to do more things like see the smithsonian...

Toni

really quick

On Monday I went early and registerd in hopes to find the other people in my group. I registered and was told that nothing really started until tuesday. So i thought I would go find my group and help set up their booth in the Exibit hall. No one would let me in becuase i didn't have an exibitors ribbon on my name tag. i tred to explain that I was going to help set up with the organization i came with but apparetnly they should have registered my name before hand in order for me to pass into the expo hall before 9:00 tuesday morning. I was not surprised. So I decided to take advantage of every free map and brochure on my way back to my hotel. I sat down, turned on some music, pulled out my highlighter and mapped out my day. Again by myself Idecided I would go and see the sites. It was not the best day for that since it was Memorial day and all the families in america come to DC to take a picture with Abe lincoln. It was a lot of fun despite being alone. I was able to see evetything and i took a lot of pictures. However the only one I have of myself is my shadow on the sidewalk (just to prove i was there). I was able to watch the memorial day parade which was amazing! i went back to my hotel about 7 and swam in the pool, used the workout room and watched some movie on tv that nobody has ever heard of and I would not try to find out the name to watch it again anyway. But I was in bed early and woke up early the next day to begin my real adventure. The reason i arrived in this city. But i do not have much time now... i will give the rest of tuesday and what happend/happens today later on.

In a really dirty city,

Toni

Lonesome Traveler

I am at it again... traveling by myself. Those of you who have been keeping up with my blog might be surprised to know that I was/am pretty nervous about this one. I flew from Minneapolis to Milwakee then to DC. The volunteer conference is all this week.

Upon my arrival I had to take a taxi cab for the first time ever. and yes... i was alone. I always have tried to convince myslef that nothing happens like it does in the movies. well... this experience was only shy the blood on the seats. Don't get me wrong he was a nice guy... but hollywood has it pretty accurate according to (all) my experinces in taxis to date.

I got to the hotel (hampton inn) only to find that it wasn't paid for and I had to pay for all 5 nights before entering my room. Needless to say i ended up using my (emergency) zero balanced credit card to get into the hotel. I ended up maxing it out. So hopefully... all will pan out when the rest of the group gets here. Oh yeah... I just found out... the rest of them don't get here until TOMORROW. So I just spent the last 3 hours wandering the streets of DC by myself. I found a lot of stuff to do.. only I didn't have a credit card to do any of it. But it was still neat to see all the different things. They even have an Urban Outfitters here(my favorite retail store).

Those of you who know me well are probably waiting for this next story. I DID in fact find a nice stranger to sit and talk to. His name is Seargant Charles somthing somthing somthing from the US Navy. He is homeless and was sitting on a park bench that I can see from my 240$ a night window. Ironic huh. Anway... I had some good conversations with him and he told me all the things that I could do if i wanted. He told me that he would take me out to lunch. But i would have to wait till tuesday. Since monday (memorial day) is a big day at work (begging) for him. I smiled and split my $5 footlong with him while toursists pass by on this weekend where they are supposed to be honoring the very man i was sitting next to. He showed me some of his previous war pins that he hides in his pocket as well as his wallet with a picture ID of a much younger looking him in a Navy Seal uniform. He couldn't get over the fact that my name was Toni so he started calling me Soni and i just let him. After all... it is memorial day weekend. :) He told me about a thing called Rolling Thunder where people with Motorcycles from all the surrounding states go and give rides and show off their bikes to everyone in the city. As tempting as that sounds... i better stay away from that. Or i may never make it to conference. Oh, by the way... it starts tomorrow at 1pm. So ... I am a little early.

Once again... in a different time zone....

Toni

what is love?

He learned to love her before she thought it was even possible,
so she didn't have a chance to hide & mess it up
& while it was a little scary at times,
mainly she could not even imagine the world
without him there.

-storypeople.com

Long Lake beach.

they came to mind.

191. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
192.Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6.
193. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.
194. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Yello

For my new job I do a lot of excel spreadsheets.  I am helping with the marketing side of things at a Hearing Aid company in Plymouth.  Anyway... I have to enter all the data from the different places we advertise or that request us to advertise with them.  Many of them have the word... yellow... in the title.  I decided after typing this word over and over... I hate that it has a 'W' at the end. Why?  I would much rather just type it like this: yello.  It is faster and looks a little better. Any thoughts? Or am i crazy?